1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a control system for a hybrid vehicle and, more particularly, to control for charging a battery.
2. Description of Related Art
There is generally known a hybrid vehicle including an engine and an electric motor that are coupled to drive wheels such that power is transmitted. The hybrid vehicle travels while switching into a plurality of traveling modes on the basis of a traveling state of the vehicle. For example, when the state of charge (level of charge) of a battery becomes lower than or equal to a predetermined value and a request for charging the battery is output, the traveling mode is switched into a mode in which the vehicle travels by using part of the power of the engine while electric power is generated by the electric motor by using the remaining part of the power of the engine. A hybrid vehicle described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2009-248913 (JP 2009-248913 A) is also one of such vehicles. JP 2009-248913 A describes a technique for, in the hybrid vehicle that charges a battery by using the power of an engine within the range of a limit charging value in response to a charging request for charging the battery, decreasing the limit charging value when a vehicle speed is low. In this way, by decreasing the limit charging value when the vehicle speed is low, occurrence of vibrations and noise during traveling is suppressed by preventing the engine from being driven at a low rotation speed and high torque.